1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit in which the cutoff frequency or time constant of a low-pass filter is switched in multi-steps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A PLL circuit is often used in communication systems, computer systems, and the like. For example, in order to read digital data out of a magnetic disk, a clock signal is necessary. Generally, the clock signal is extracted from the read data itself, and a PLL circuit is used as a clock extracting circuit.
A conventional PLL circuit comprises a voltage-controlled-oscillator, a phase comparator, and a low-pass filter associated with a pump circuit. The characteristics of such a PLL circuit must be such that the PLL circuit does not change with rapid fluctuation, such as jitter, included in an input signal after the PLL circuit locks with the input signal, i.e., after the feedback nature of the PLL circuit causes the voltage-controlled oscillator to synchronize with the input signal. To make certain that the stability of the PLL circuit does not deteriorate, the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter is made high during the lock-in mode so as to enhance the response time of the PLL circuit. The cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter is made low after the lock-in mode so as to reduce the response time of the PLL circuit.
In the prior art, however, in order to switch the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter, a switching transistor is provided within the low-pass filter, and, as a result, the saturated voltage of the transistor is applied as noise to the control voltage of the voltage-controlled oscillator during the lock-in mode, thereby deteriorating the characteristics of the PLL circuit.